China’s Great Wall Wants To Challenge BMW And Mercedes With Wey Coffee 01

Great Wall, which is planning a return to Europe via their Wey brand, presented the Coffee 01 SUV at the IAA Mobility 2021 motor show. The Coffee One will be Wey’s first European offering and is being positioned as a premium product against the likes of BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.

The premium approach is a different strategy for China’s Great Wall Motors, which had previously tried to win over European customers with budget-based offerings, with little success. “We have confidence in the product,” Great Wall Executive Vice President for Europe Johnson Qiang told Autonews at the show adding that it will launch in Germany followed either by Italy or Spain before a Euro-wide  .

Read: 2021 Munich Motor Show A-Z Debut Roundup

The Coffee 01 will be a plug-in hybrid capable of 93 miles (149 km) on electric power alone, and is intended to be daily driven in EV mode. It will feature a 2.0-liter miller-cycle ICE and two electric motors coupled to a nine-speed dual-clutch transmission. Combined power is 469bhp (476 PS / 355 kW), with a 0-62 time predicted to be sub-five seconds.

The premium SUV is sized in-between popular staple SUVs of Germany. At 4,870-mm long it’s longer than a BMW X3, Audi Q5, and Mercedes GLC, but shorter than the BMW X5, Audi Q7, and Mercedes GLE.

Great Wall is banking on customers valuing a tech-laden offering, and is throwing everything bar an automated kitchen sink at their new entrant. The Coffee 01 will be the first mass-produced car to include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. It’ll allow the Coffee 01 to harness such features as 5G connectivity, facial recognition, OTA updates, and augmented reality.

Read: A Retro-Inspired Crossover Concept Is Teased By Wey

According to Automotive News, the Coffee 01 may not be the final name for the production SUV. However, the name was chosen for the beverage’s universal enjoyment around the world. Great Wall Executive Vice President for Europe, Johnson Qiang, is a fan of the Coffee moniker too, saying that it connects to a person’s family life, work-life and leisure time.

Wey — which has already sold over 400,000 cars in China since its inception five years ago — will begin European operations in Germany, with the first deliveries of the Coffee 01 slated for the first half of 2022.